Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Yesterday, I did 1,382 words on the "Untitled Novella." I'm pleased with how it's coming along. I'm going to try to make this entry shorter today, since that last entry was such a marathon and there's a lot to be done.
I've long accepted that I am afflicted with a certain stubborn naivete. It's often most evident when I'm confronted with what appears, to me, to be meaness for meanesses sake. And, while I'll grant that the net has done very many wonderful things, it's surely the greatest boon to meaness since the invention of human language. What is she prattling on about now? you ask. Some days ago, I came across the following line on alt.tv.farscape. I won't identify the poster, but concentrate rather on the substance (or lack thereof) of the messge in question, which is as follows:
She [the she in question being me] is highly over rated [sic] as a talented anything.
So, I read this and, at once, the aforementioned naivete kicks in. Why would someone say this, in a public forum? What would inspire them to do so? It seems to have no real purpose beyond a casual sort of petty hurtfulness. I genuinely find such things baffling. Then I set the naivete aside and allowed myself to consider the comment. It's about a third of the total message, in which the author admits to having purchased one of my novels (Threshold) and having been unable, for unstated reasons, to complete it. From this, and, I suppose from a few messages I posted last year to alt.tv.farscape, this person has drawn the conclusion that I'm "highly over rated [sic] as a talented anything." Now, the thread which contained the post in question also touched on my work as a paleontologist and my time in Death's Little Sister, so the poster is dismissing me as an author, scientist, and musician. Which is curious, given that he or she's only admitted to reading part of one book. Am I really expected to believe that this individual has read my publications in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and that he or she has the scientific acumen to judge them? Am I to believe that this person is one of the small handful of people who ever attended a DLS show during the band's brief existence? If I am expected to believe these things, I don't. Especially the part about having read, and understood, my paleo' work.
I do actually have a point here, beyond my naivete and the issue of meanness and any personal annoyance at having encountered such a thing. Point being, simply, that when given such an incredible communicative tool as the web, the most some people seem to be able to do with it is mouth off about things about which they are, in all likelihood, distinctly unqualified to comment on. It's not so much a flaw in the web, as a flaw in the species. And this is yet another example of why I've stopped posting to Usenet. However, none of this is meant as a general indictment of alt.tv.farscape, even though I predict my comments here will not go unnoticed by the poster in question, or an acquaintance of the poster in question, and he or she will probably have more to say about my lack of talent. At least he or she is predictable.
And speaking of Farscape, I spent another four hours last night on Nebari.Net. Leh'agvoi's manga pages are up now, chapters one and two, along with a "Nar'eth Photogallery" preview of what will eventually become the costuming section. Access both via the front page. Finally, more than a year after registering the domain, the site's beginning to get a little content, thanks, in large part, to folks like Llar'en and Leh'agvoi and Spooky (who took all those Nar'eth photos). These days, Nebari.Net is doing an awful lot to keep me grounded. In the midst of so much pressure regarding what I have to write, it's good to have something to work on that's, as they say, just for fun.
Not much else to say about yesterday, which is good, because this has already gone on longer than I'd intended. Spooky and I did discover a great new PS2 game last night, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Very Tomb Raiderish, but very much it's own thing, as well. Maybe it's just that I like swords and I've always wanted to do that Fred Astaire dancing-on-walls thing.
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